Recent Acquisitions, or, Book Swoon

Guess what I'm not doing right now?  I am not at the GIANT charity book sale going on about a 5 minute drive from my house.  I'm putting the brakes on my book buying temporarily.  The reason being is that I promised myself once my bedroom bookcase was full I would stop buying.  I'm spending the summer reading from my bedroom bookcase.  After each read I determine if the book is a keeper.  The only way I'm buying more is if there is room on the shelf. 

It is a wee bit crammed because I have had a slew of new and new-to-me books enter my home in the past few weeks.  I thought I'd share the loot with all of you:

Books Received from Friends:
The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
Maus I by Art Spiegelman
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman
Jane Austen by Claire Tomalin
Wild Nights!: Stories about the Last Days of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James, and Hemingway by Joyce Carol Oates

Charity Shop Books:
The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws by Margaret Drabble
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Elegy for Iris by John Bayley

Thrifted:
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

Books Professor was Ditching and Sam brought home in a box:
Stealing the Mona Lisa: What Art Stops us from Seeing by Darian Leader
Irish Tales of the Fairies and Ghost World 
Possession by A.S. Byatt
The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

ThriftBooks Order (with combined birthday money from mom and Sam): 
The Virago Book of Fairy Tales edited by Angela Carter
The Second Book of Fairy Tales edited by Angela Carter
The Birds Fall Down by Rebecca West
Nothing Sacred by Angela Carter
Cousin Rosamund by Rebecca West
Mr. Fortune's Maggot by Sylvia Townsend Warner
The Diaries of Sylvia Townsend Warner
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Soul of Kindness by Elizabeth Taylor

A Game of Hide and Seek by Elizabeth Taylor
The Music at Long Verney: Short Stories by Sylvia Townsend Warner

That's a total of 25 new books that have entered my home since mid-April.  Holy-Lisa-Frank-exploding-glitter-stars-on-a-purple-unicorn that's a lot.

I do want to say that I'm a total convert to Thriftbooks!  They have so many Viragos, NYRB, and all of those crazy female British authors I have difficulty finding in book stores.  Other awesomeness includes:

1. FREE SHIPPING IN THE UNITED STATES.  No minimum order.  
2. When you start buying you'll notice that if you buy in the same state (any state) you get an extra 50 cents off every book after the first book.  Holla!
3. The books arrived quickly and were packaged well.
4. They have a refer a friend program.  Simply email your friend a 15% off coupon and when they use it -- you have 2 weeks to use it -- YOU get a 15% off coupon.  

In fact, if you'd like a 15% off coupon to get you started, email me at Amanda(dot)L(dot)Addison(at)gmail.com.  I'll send you one from my account and then rack up some more myself.  Win-win.

Needless to say I'm set for the time being.  I'm really into my current read (Hilary Mantel's Bring up the Bodies) and I'm still enjoying my reread of Elizabeth Bowen's Collected Short Stories.  The next challenge will be to decide which book to read next; I have so many options now!